Monday, August 19, 2013

Will Mason Crosby Be Released Soon?

I'm not exactly sure where he ranked in NFL history but K Mason Crosby was terrible last season. His percentage was bad (21 made in 33 attempts, 63.6%) and only one other kicker was below 70% while twenty-six others were above 80%. To make matters worse, some of his missed attempts were amazingly off-target. He really had to show something this preseason.

While he did make three field goals against the Rams, he's otherwise been awful this month. John Clayton's NFL contacts are among the best, so when he suggests something, it's probably going to happen:

Dan Carpenter and Rian Lindell are the top kickers on the market after being released. Mason Crosby could be the next veteran cut.
— John Clayton (@ClaytonESPN) August 19, 2013

Clayton mentioned Carpenter and Lindell, maybe they could be options, but those two guys have their own problems otherwise they wouldn't have been released. The Packers would be taking a leap of faith that either one of them could do better than Crosby or Tavecchio.

The Packers don't really have a good option here. They can bring in kickers for tryouts. They can watch Crosby and Tavecchio in practice. But that doesn't mean the kicker they watched in tryouts and practice will deliver come game time. Crosby was so bad last season, and struggled so much this month, that change seems inevitable. The real concern is that the solution will bring new problems.